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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Fully Restored Fleischer's Superman Coming to DVD!

I have just received an eflyer for a new DVD set of Max Fleischer's Superman series from 1941 (click the image on the right to see the ad). While most of you fans probably have all of these cartoons on DVD through cheapo $1 DVDs you can find at Wal-Mart, this one should be of special interest to you since it is a legit release by the company that owns the original masters.

Warner Bros., who owns DC Comics and the rights to Superman will be releasing a two-disc set collecting all nine Fleischer Superman cartoons and all eight Famous Studios Superman cartoons from 1941-1943 on April 7, 2009. All seventeen cartoons will be fully restored and given the same special treatment as seen with other classic cartoon properties such as Popeye the Sailor and Looney Tunes.

I should note that Warner Bros. has already released these restored cartoons as bonus features on the re-release DVDs of Superman: the Movie and Superman II from two years ago. But this is the first time they will all be collected together.

I thought it would be fun to look at the quality of these cartoons. Below I have posted a still from the restored version of Billion Dollar Limited.

Compare this to the next image, taken from what fans have considered the best print before the restoration, The Complete Superman Collection - Diamond Anniversary Edition DVD from Bosko Video.

However, since all of these Superman cartoons are in the public domain, any cheap DVD company can release these cartoons. But since none of them have access to the original prints, this is what they look like.

Even though I have these cartoons in about four different sets, I will definitely be purchasing this set and I encourage all of you to do so as well.

2 comments:

I wasn't planning to get this because I've had the Diamond Anniversary Edition for a very long time (it's probably the first dvd I ever bought myself) and I thought it was the best. If the difference is as vast as seen in the screenshots, I just might have to. Not to mention I've wanted to see First Flight for a while but I was never planning on getting the Superman Movie Collection.